Decolonizing Peace

Decolonizing peace offers a vivid critique of what I refer to as the "peace industry" and the neo-colonial Northern addiction to helping the Global South. The book looks at social complex adaptive systems for peace which do not rely on Northern funds, or well-meaning peace missionaries. I use chaos theory, cybernetics and panarchy as post-Cartesian lenses to analyse the sustainablity and resilience of local peace initiatives.

Reviews:

"Victoria Fontan is an emissary of the peace to come, and her work is one of the most meaningful contributions to peace studies I know of. If you haven't been lucky enough to be her student, you have the chance now to read this book. I wish every peaceworker the opportunity to nourish their work, and improve our world, by reading it." -Oliver Rizzi Carlson- Newsletter Editor, Global Campaign for Peace Education, USA

"This is a thought provoking study, which through a blend of theory, activism, and detailed empiricism, exposes a paradox at the heart of peace thinking: the tension between colonial and universalist epistemology and liberation or self determination. It is a much needed contribution." -Prof. Oliver Richmond- University of Manchester, UK

"A key book to rethink the peacebuilding sector and its risk to be part of neo-colonial policies. A milestone for scholars and practitioners in the field." - Dr. Bernardo Venturi - University of Bologna, Italy

Voices from Post-Saddam Iraq, foreword by Louis Kriesberg

Even today, most Americans can not understand just why the fighting continues in Iraq, whether our nation should be involved there now, and how we could change our tactics to help establish a lasting peace in the face of what many fear will become a full-fledged civil war. In the book at hand, Victoria Fontan shares pointed insights into the emotions of Iraq's people, and specifically how democratization has in that country come to be associated with humiliation. Including interviews with common people in Iraq this work makes clear how laudable intentions do not always bring the desired result when it comes to international conflict and cross-cultural psychology.

Reviews:

"This gripping text is focused on a new and growing area of human psychology - humiliation studies. In it (Fontan) spotlights aspects of U.S. actions - and Iraqi perceptions - that have fueled ongoing conflict and left some increasingly outspoken residents of the U.S., and the rest of the world, demanding that foreign forces be withdrawn and the Iraqis left to their own accord. The work examines issues including how and when the Iraqis began to see the United States, as not a liberator but as an occupier; how both Abu Ghraib and our ensuing handling of the scandal heightened Iraqi humiliation and fighting; how we've fueled the ethno-religious unrest that still rages today; and how the Post-Saddam elections paved the way for civil war. Fontan also describes the role of women in Iraq who may ultimately be an important key to peace and explains her views on the new role the U.S. may play to better help establish peace." -ABC-Clio Editorial Review-

"Among the numerous books on the Iraq conflict to appear in recent years, Fontan's stands out because of the range of perspectives she brings to bear to illuminate her subject: she brings a journalist's ear for compelling stories, a scholar's analytical tools that provide these stories with meaning, and an activist's passion for the human beings at the heart of her writing. By studying the Iraq intervention through a psychological and cultural framework, and by focusing on the effects of humiliation across the political and social landscape of Iraq, her work serves as a vital reminder that what really matters in cases like this is how the intervention is perceived by the population of the target state, no matter how well-intentioned the intervention might be." -Dr. Scott A. Silverstone- United States Military Academy, USA

‘Polarization between occupier and occupied in Post-Saddam Iraq: humiliation and the formation of political violence’ in Terrorism and Political Violence, 18:217-238, Routledge: Taylor and Francis. Spring 2006.

‘The International Media and the Lebanese Hezbollah: reporting or supporting a third party?’, in Humanitariannet, The Emotion and the Truth: Studies in Mass communication and conflict. Bilbao: University of Deusto, 2003.

‘The importance of education and training in modern peace operations’ in The Yearbook of International Peace Operations, Volume 9, 2003. Amsterdam: Brill Academic Publishers.